Zafar Nameh

The Zafar Nameh is a poetical composition, in Persian
of Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth and the last in the continuous line of
Sikh prophets.

In 1922, the Nagri Pracharni Patrika of Banaras published
an article by Babu Jagan Nath Das, in its July or August issue. In this
article the writer had claimed that some thirty or thirty-two years prior
to writing that article he had seen two letters in Persian verse with
the Mahant or the Granthi-in-Charge of Sri Hari Mandir Sahib of Patna
- one was written by the great Maratha warrior king, Sivaji, to Mirza
Raja Jai Singh, a compatriot of Aurangzeb and the other, by the Founder
of the Khalsa Guru Gobind Singh - to Aurangzeb. In the latter, Auranzeb
was admonished for his misdeed and his tyranny over the Hindus. Babu Jagan
Nath Das had copied out both the letters in or about 1890 and he got Sivaji’s
letter published in the Nagri Pracharni Patrika.It thus came to be properly
preserved. Immediately afterwards, Mr. Bulaki Ram Chopra Shastri, Barrister-at-Law
of Dehra Dun, got it reprinted in Persian script with a picture of the
Maratha king in the centre, and thus it was made available to Persian-Knowing
lovers of Indian history; but unfortunately, the letter of Guru Gobind
Singh was mislaid by Babu Jagan Nath Das himself and he transcribed portions
of it from memory and had them published in the Nagri pracharni Patrika
also. Pandit Raj Vallabh Misra, who was then a collector in Patna got
this letter, in Persian verse, of Guru Gobind Singh printed and Babu Jagan
Nath Das sent a copy of it to Sardar Umrao Singh Shergill, of Majitha,
who gave it to the library of the Khalsa College, Amritsar.

It could not be known as to how these two letters came
into the hands of the Mahant of Patna. This remains a mystery even today.

It is a fact that, for the consolidation of the nation,
Guru Gobind Singh had collected around him fiftytwo scholars of Persian
and Sanskrit. The object was that a proper assessment of the sacred scriptures
of Hindus and Muslims be made. Among the scholars at Guru Singh’s
court was the great Bhai Nandlal Goya - an acknowledged poet and scholar
of Persian, who had his education in Kabul and spoke Persian as his mother
tongue. It is said that whenever Bhai Nandlal Goya came to the durbar
of Guru Gobind Singh, the Guru would stand up and receive him with honour
and deference. It is conceivable that constant association with Bhai Nandlal
inculcated a love for Persian poetry in the Guru. The Guru seems to have
attained sufficient proficiency in Persian and must have been able to
communicated with the rulers of the land in the official language.

Between July 1703 and January 1704 the Fort of Anandpur
was besieged by the Mughal Army and when the latter realized that it was
not possible to break through the firmly entrenched forces of the Khalsa,
Aurangzeb is said to have sent an emissary, with oaths written on the
Qur'an, offering to sign a treaty. On the basis of Aurangzeb’s solemn
sworn assurances, Guru Gobind Singh, who did not believe in these, bowed
to the hard-pressed and starving garrison of Anandpur, and came out of
Anandpur. The enemy retracted from the contract and attacked the Khalsa.
In the melee that ensued practically all literary treasures of Guru Gobind
Singh were lost and the members of his family and the Sikh forces were
thrown helter -skelter. Guruji’s mother, Mata Gujri and his two
younger sons were betrayed by their brahmin servant Gangu to the Governor
of Sirhind and Guru himself was confined in Chamkaur for a few days and
had to fight his way out.

It cannot be said with any degree of certainty when
the Zafar Namah was composed.

The first part of the Zafar Nameh appears to have been
completed in Machhiwara and the latter half at a place known as Kangar
near Rupar. There are 135 verses in the epistle and it was sent to Aurangzeb
in Hyderabad through Bhai Daya Singh. At the time this epistle was received,
the Mughal Army had lost its hold on the Punjab and the very foundations
of the Mughal Empire were tottering. Aurangzeb was taken aback to read
this divine warning, which was nothing short of a writing on the wall
so far as the future of the Mughal Empire was concerned.

Guru Gobind Singh’s knowledge of Persian will
be acknowledged by all who read the Zafar Namah. Because it was desired
to attune it with the martial tone of the events that were referred to
by the Guru, the Mutaqarab metre of the Shahnama of Fridausi was chosen
by Guru Gobind Singh for this letter. This metre was also elected by Sivaji
Maratha and both the leaders have proved themselves to be perfect masters
of Persian.

Not only is the Zafar Nameh full of poetic embellishments,
it is also replete with historical allusions and of moral and ethical
principles.

It is an interesting coincidence that the Sikh ardas
begins with a salutation to the sword (Bhagwati) and the Zafar Nameh also
begins with the Lord of the Sword and other implements of war. Those who
have established their name as warriors in the battlefield are remembered
next, and then there is a frontal attack on the Mughal Emperor, and an
open admonition, that he was perpetrating all heinous acts in the name
of God and religion, whereas, the Khalsa would never indulge in such hypocrisies.
The Emperor’s outward demeanour of a pious Muslim was only a camouflage
to entrap innocent people into his snare. With the blood of his brothers
and persecution of his father on his hands, how could he be trusted? With
such inhuman acts, he had built a shaky structure on unsound foundations,
and this was bound to be washed away by the "holy waters" with
which he had initiated the Khalsa, who were destined to fight to the end
so as to exterminate the entire empire. The Emperor was warned that, just
as he had returned sorrow-stricken from the Deccan after his fight with
the Marathas and the failures in Mewar and Rajasthan, he was destined
to face the same fate if he tried to trample upon the sacred soil of the
Punjab.

The loss of his two sons was nothing serious for the
Guru, for he believed that hundreds of thousands of his followers (the
Sikhs) were there to vindicate the honour of the Khalsa. All the professions
of the Mughals in the name of God and theoath taken on the holy Qur'an
had no value for the Sikhs and the only thing which could set the Mughals
right was the sword. The Guru threw a challenge to the Emperor to come
into the battlefield personally and fight with him and not to get innocent
people killed to satiate his thirst for blood.

Verses 25-37 are in praise of the Lord as He is believed
by the Sikhs, and the Guru gives to Aurangzeb the right idea of God and
his firm faith in His glory and might. Anything with which the name of
God was associated must be accomplished with equally pious and sacred
means. The Mughals deceived people under the camouflage of their swearings
in the name of God and their inscribing the agreements on the pages of
the holy Qoran to which they hardly attached any value. This was demonstrated
by their subsequent behaviour. The Guru, being a teacher from his very
birth, does not decry the evil-doer but tries to reform him as far as
possible. The means as well as the ends must conform to each other and
the sanctity of the either must not be destroyed by the grossness of the
other.

In the Zafar Nameh, Guru Gobind Singh has tried to synthesise
knowledge, action and devotion. Viveka or discrimination be taken to be
the first step towards knowledge and it is therefore that the first few
verses pertain to what should be the criterion of choice in the circumstances
in which one is put. The second stage is that of detachment where the
aspirant is free from all idea of the lower self but works for the macrocosm.
His own children have suffered martyrdom, and his father was beheaded
- not for any personal fault but - for the sake of the nation and principles
of justice. The Emperor, on the other hand, had indulged in the murder
of his own brothers and the torturing of his father just for personal
ends. The Guru shows him the difference between the ideals followed by
each. Just means must always be employed for a sacred end. This is Guru’s
philosophy of action. All possible peaceful means must be adopted first
to bring home to the aggressor the futility of his high handedness; but
if he proves to be incorrigible, resort to violent means achieve the end
was permissible:

cun kar az hama hilate dar guzasht
halal ast burdan ba shamsher dast

i.e.

When all other means fail
it is proper to take the sword in one’s hand

This verse signifies the true nature of action and a
high water-mark in practical politics. Good means can be effective when
used against enemies who have any sense of goodness in them.

The whole of this Epic poem is full of classical Persian
allusions and shows a perfect mastery of the history and literature of
the Muslims and the pre-Muslim Persians, whose language the Mughals had
adopted for their courts. The mention of the names of Kaikhusrow, Jamshid,
Faridun, Bahman, Isfandyar and Iskandar give us an idea as to how these
non-Muslim predecessors or the Persians had glorified themselves in theatres
of war and upheld the cause of their country against the aggressors. The
mention of the name of Sher Shah Suri is more of a political nature as
it was he who ousted Aurangzeb’s ancestor, Humayun, out of India
and obliged him to take refuge in Persia where the state religion was
Shiaism, of which Aurangzeb was an arch-enemy. This mention of the name
of Sher Shah was to make Aurangzeb realize the truth of his past history.
The reference to the names of Timur, Babar, Humayun and Akbar was intended
to bring home to Aurangzeb that all of them had gone and he had also to
suffer the same fate and it was of no use to perpetrate tyranny on people
who were his subjects.

The epistle, as a whole, is a remarkable piece of enunciation
of ethics. It is equally remarkable for its poetry and diction. However,
no authentic original version of it has been discovered so far. Many lines
which are faulty in metre seem to have been interpolated. It is desirable
that it be purged of the dross and a genuine version presented to the
lovers of the literature of Guru Gobind Singh. When the Zafar Nameh is
edited critically, it will have a place in Persian literature equal to
that of Firdausi’s Shahnama or Nizami’s Sikandarnama.

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